Quintilian Quotes

A man who tries to surpass another may perhaps succeed in equaling inot actually surpassing him, but one who merely follows can never quite come up with him: a follower, necessarily, is always behind.

Though ambition may be a fault in itself, it is often the mother of virtues.

Where evil habits are once settled, they are more easily broken than mended.

A liar should have a good memory.

A religion without mystics is a philosophy.

The perfection of art is to conceal art.

It is the nurse that the child first hears, and her words that he will first attempt to imitate.

God, that all-powerful Creator of nature and architect of the world, has impressed man with no character so proper to distinguish him from other animals, as by the faculty of speech.

From writing rapidly it does not result that one writes well, but from writing well it results that one writes rapidly.

A liar must have a good memory. -Mendacem oportet esse memorem

The learned understand the reason of art; the unlearned feel the pleasure.

It is much easier to try one's hand at many things than to concentrate one's powers on one thing.

Minds that are stupid and incapable of science are in the order of nature to be regarded as monsters and other extraordinary phenomena; minds of this sort are rare. Hence I conclude that there are great resources to be found in children, which are suffered to vanish with their years. It is evident, therefore, that it is not of nature, but of our own negligence, we ought to complain.

That which offends the ear will not easily gain admission to the mind.

Men, even when alone, lighten their labors by song, however rude it may be.

Forbidden pleasures alone are loved immoderately; when lawful, they do not excite desire.

A liar ought to have a good memory.

To my mind the boy who gives least promise is one in whom the critical faculty develops in advance of the imagination.

It seldom happens that a premature shoot of genius ever arrives at maturity.

The mind is exercised by the variety and multiplicity of the subject matter, while the character is moulded by the contemplation of virtue and vice.

Nothing is more dangerous to men than a sudden change of fortune.

Ambition is a vice, but it may be the father of virtue.

She abounds with lucious faults.

For comic writers charge Socrates with making the worse appear the better reason.

One thing, however, I must premise, that without the assistance of natural capacity, rules and precepts are of no efficacy.

The pretended admission of a fault on our part creates an excellent impression.

A laugh costs too much when bought at the expense of virtue.

While we are making up our minds as to when we shall begin. the opportunity is lost.

There is no one who would not rather appear to know than to be taught.

As regards parents, I should like to see them as highly educated as possible, and I do not restrict this remark to fathers alone.

We must form our minds by reading deep rather than wide.

For the mind is all the easier to teach before it is set.

A great part of art consists in imitation. For the whole conduct of life is based on this: that what we admire in others we want to do ourselves.

The obscurity of a writer is generally in proportion to his incapacity.

Men of quality are in the wrong to undervalue, as they often do, the practise of a fair and quick hand in writing; for it is no immaterial accomplishment.

Medicine for the dead is too late

Nothing can be pleasing which is not also becoming.

In a crowd, on a journey, at a banquet even, a line of thought can itself provide its own seclusion.

For all the best teachers pride themselves on having a large number of pupils and think themselves worthy of a bigger audience.

The soul languishing in obscurity contracts a kind of rust, or abandons itself to the chimera of presumption; for it is natural for it to acquire something, even when separated from any one.

Suffering itself does less afflict the senses than the apprehension of suffering.

When defeat is inevitable, it is wisest to yield.

Lately we have had many losses.

For it would have been better that man should have been born dumb, nay, void of all reason, rather than that he should employ the gifts of Providence to the destruction of his neighbor.

Sayings designed to raise a laugh are generally untrue and never complimentary. Laughter is never far removed from derision.

Prune what is turgid, elevate what is commonplace, arrange what is disorderly, introduce rhythm where the language is harsh, modify where it is too absolute.

Verse satire indeed is entirely our own.

By writing quickly we are not brought to write well, but by writing well we are brought to write quickly.